Moments of "Time"

Second Story. Yours truly, 2095.

She is the latest in technology,

Almost mythology,

But she has a heart of stone.

She has an IQ of 1001,

She has a jump-suit on

And she's also a telephone...

- Electric Light Orchestra, "Yours truly, 2095".

Justin Finch-Fletchley was sitting at his usual place at breakfast - somehow it appeared to be next to Hannah Abbott's usual place. He was doing his usual morning thing - he was gazing at a certain individual at the Gryffindor table.

That certain individual was currently engaged in a discussion with her boyfriend, Ron Weasley. From Justin's point of view, he could only see that they were arguing about something, but could not quite make out the words. Not that he needed it, really.

He was just looking at her, trying to absorb all that energy, all that enthusiasm, all that... that... hair. Despite the fact that most boys at Hogwarts, aside from Justin and her two friends, that boyfriend of hers Ron Weasley and that super-hero Harry Potter, were either ignoring her hair or just openly did not like it. The three of them did not consider it bad.

Justin always thought that those two hang on to her so that she would help them do their homework, but one day she'll notice that they don't really care about her and then... Then she'll be free, free for him to make his move.

He did not want to win her from Ron right now, and he had two perfectly good reasons for it. First, she might not like it, which was why Justin patiently awaited for her to drop Ron, and second, some might think that he wanted her to help him in his exam preparation. Of course the sixth-year exams were not as tough as the O.W.L.s, but most students thought of it in no other way except impending doom.

Justin was not like that. He was studying fervently, whenever he could, even if that meant going to sleep awfully late. His affection for her, her looks, her hair, her face... her style, was immense, so immense, in fact, that he did not notice anything happening around him whenever he looked at her. However she never looked at him, never noticed that he was there, nothing beyond the usual "Hi, Justin!" and "Bye, Justin!".

**********

I've met someone who looks a lot like you,

She does the things you do,

But she is an IBM...

- Electric Light Orchestra, "Yours truly, 2095".

She looked at Justin, gazing at that Gryffindor girl, Hermione Granger again. It was usual among the Hufflepuffs to discuss how many times Justin looked at Hermione today, and how many was it yesterday, and if the number dropped below seventeen times a day they deemed him sick. Usually they were correct.

She herself never considered Justin as a decent boyfriend possibility, more of the usual "He's always there, always free, if in trouble - go for him" principle. That did work that one time with the Yule Ball in their fourth year, didn't it?

But she, just as he, had a secret crush, though she did not display it so openly...

Suddenly, she turned her head towards the Great Hall entrance, there he was! Entering the Hall with his usual noble looks, the quintessence of male charm, the most, most, most cool bloke in her year...

She also lost any interest in her surroundings when she saw him, just like Justin did with Hermione.

*****

"Oh, look, Hannah's drooling over Malfoy. Again," Ernie observed merrily.